A little Friday night stress relief from studies at Columbia International University includes guys in ties and ladies in long flowing formals. It also includes a bath in a kiddie pool filled with chocolate syrup.

Elegance was on display at the annual Junior/Senior Formal this year, held outdoors at the Lace House on the grounds of the South Carolina Governor’s Mansion. Only a couple weeks later, some of the same students donned zany costumes to take part in the annual Sadie Hawkins Throwdown. This event, which is unique to CIU, starts with a female student who asks a guy to be her partner in a series of creative games including gunny sack races, speed jigsaw puzzle making and sliding through a kiddie pool filled with chocolate syrup. The couple that compiles the most points in each event is declared the winner at the end of the night.